The Final Ministry in Jerusalem.  Of all the periods of the life of Christ this is the most significant.  The gospels put most stress upon it and particularly upon his trial and death.  The disciples soon learned to triumph in the cross, the seeming defeat out of which Jesus, through his resurrection, snatched victory.  Everything recorded of this period has a ring of the tragical and seemed a preparation for the coming doom he was soon to meet.  The material readily divides itself into three sections or periods. (1) From the final arrival in Jerusalem to the last hours of private intercourse with his disciples.  (Matt. 21:11-26:16; Mk. chs. 11-13; 14:  1, 2, 10, 11; Lu. 19:29-22:6; John 12:12 end).  Like every other section of his active ministry among the people this has in it some teachings and some miracles.  The greatest act of all was, perhaps, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as king of the Jews.  In this act he openly accepted the position of Messiah.

There is one important miracle, that of cursing and withering the fig tree.  Some consider that a miraculous power was also used in the cleansing of the temple.  The teachings may be grouped as follows:  (a) The question about Christ’s authority and his reply by question and the three parables of warning; (b) Three questions by the Jews and Christ’s unanswerable question; (c) Seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees and the widow’s mite; (d) The Gentiles seeking and the Jews rejecting Jesus; (e) a discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world; (f) the last prediction of his death and the conspiracy of Judas and the chief priests.

(2) Christ’s last hours with his disciples. (Matt. 26:17-35; Mk. 14:12-31; Lu. 22:7 end; John chs. 13-17).  Jesus has now withdrawn from the crowd and is alone with his disciples giving to them his final words of instruction and comfort.  The whole of the material of this section seems to be surrounded by an atmosphere of sacredness that almost forbids our looking in upon its little company.  This last evening that Jesus and the little group of disciples were together, is, however, so important that it is reported by the apostles.  All the incidents of the evening seem to center around the institution of the last or Paschal Supper.  But for the sake of study and as an aid to memory the events may be divided into three groups, (A) The supper.  The order of events in connection with it seem to be:  (1) the strife of the disciples for the place of honor; (2) the beginning of the Passover meal; (3) the washing of the disciples’ feet; (4) the pointing out of the betrayer; (5) the departure of Jesus from the table; (6) the institution of the Lord’s upper.

(B) The final instructions to the disciples.  It is difficult to analyze these discourses.  There are running through them one thread of teaching and one of comfort.  In some sections one element seems to predominate and in other the other, To illustrate; chapters 13 and 15 of John seem to be more largely taken up with teaching, while chapters 14 and 16 have a larger element of words intended to comfort them.  The effort seems to be to convince them that it is better for them for him to go away, that their spiritual fellowship with him would be more complete and their understanding and power more perfect because of the Comforter whom he would send.